"Good Yields" Guaranteed for Venezuelan Investors?

Most of the work of activist governments is hopelessly ineffective and unproductive. But that doesn’t stop them. When their programs don’t work, the feds rarely wonder why. Instead, they force the issue…with more regulation, penalties and coercion. Look at Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Here’s the latest from Bloomberg:

[Venezuela] will offer local investors high yields to stimulate saving and allow nationalized companies to seek financing.

The Public Bond Market, which will begin operations in December, will allow state-run companies to sell debt to finance operations and individuals to seek investment opportunities, Chavez said.

Chavez tightened his grip on the financial industry this year by closing more than a dozen banks and 40 brokerages that he said committed “fraud” and set artificial exchange rates. He said investors will have their investments guaranteed by the state.

“The banking and brokerage crisis has allowed us to draft this law,” Chavez said yesterday on state television during his Alo Presidente program. “Don’t spend all your year-end bonuses, invest in the bourse, and the state will guarantee your money with good yields.”

Hey…there’s a deal! The feds will guarantee your investments…“with good yields.”

Leave it to the government to come up with a can’t-lose investment program.

What do you think, dear reader? Will investors come out ahead? Can an investment program run by the Venezuelan feds, investing in businesses owned by the government, give better returns than a program that invests in money-grubbing enterprises run by greedy capitalists?

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About Bill Bonner:

Since founding Agora Inc. in 1979, Bill Bonner has found success in numerous industries. His unique writing style, philanthropic undertakings and preservationist activities have been recognized by some of America’s most respected authorities. With his friend and colleague Addison Wiggin, he co-founded The Daily Reckoning in 1999, and together they co-wrote the New York Times best-selling books Financial Reckoning Day and Empire of Debt. His other works include Mobs, Messiahs and Markets (with Lila Rajiva), Dice Have No Memory, and most recently, Hormegeddon: How Too Much of a Good Thing Leads to Disaster. His most recent project is The Bill Bonner Letter.